Compact discs, which are commonly referred to as "CD's" are generally well known in the art. Standard CD's having a diameter of four and three quarters (43/4) inches are commonly used to store prerecorded music, prerecorded video, and data for reading by a computer. Due to technical advances, a CD can store an incredible amount of data and thus CD's are greatly preferred over other storage mediums, such as magnetic recording tape.
Most CD's are packaged in rigid plastic containers or boxes. The rigid containers serve to protect the CD from inadvertent damage, such as scratching or impact damage. However, in actuality the CD's stored therein are relatively durable and thus do not need such a rigid container.
Moreover, the standard container is bulky, has many sharp corners, has a hinge which frequently comes apart or breaks altogether, and is generally disliked by many consumers. Accordingly, many consumers have long desired a more convenient, less bulky and altogether more user friendly alternative for storing CD's.
One solution has been to provide a CD carrier made from paper or from a paperboard material. Such containers are softer, less bulky, and have the added advantage of being made from recycled material. A variety of such folded paper CD carriers have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,419,433 and 5,421,453 show paper board CD carriers formed from a sheet of material which is folded and then glued together to form a pocket sized to hold a CD. However, the gluing process is very difficult to control, and thus many such prior art CD carriers are not well suited for mass production.
Accordingly, there exists a continuing need for an improved paper board CD carrier.